The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2020 Dec 11

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11865-6

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Testosterone and cortisol variation due to training and fight in Judokas

Imed GANDOUZI ¹ ✉, Mouna TURKI ^{1, 2}, Fatma AYEDI ², Nizar SOUISSI ³

¹ Molecular Basis of Human Pathology Laboratory UR12ES17, Faculty of Medicine of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia; ² Laboratory of Biochemistry, CHU Habib Bourguiba, Sfax, Tunisia; ³ RU Physical Activities, Sport & Health, The National Observatory of Sport, Tunisia

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of judo workout by determining the testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) responses and their associations with the results of a judo fight.
METHODS: A prospective study involved 17 judokas. Three blood samples were taken from each athlete: at rest, immediately after a 90 min training session and 72 hours later immediately after a 5 min fight , to evaluate T, C and lactic acid.
RESULTS: Results showed no significant difference for T (p = 0.17), C (p = 0.51) or testosterone/cortisol (T/C) ratio (t = 0.901 (16), p =0.38) after training. A significant difference was found for the C (p =0.002) and the T/C ratio (p =0.04) after the fight. In contrast with the losers, the winner judokas reported a significant increase in the C (p = 0.002) and T (p = 0.013) concentrations at rest and after the fight. No significant difference was found for C (p = 0.77) or T (p = 0.43) at rest and after training.
CONCLUSIONS: The "fight" effort induced more biological stress than the "training" effort. In addition, the cortisol response and the T/C ratio revealed an association with a subsequent victorious judo fight. Thus, the hormonal response, particularly the C concentration, to a training could allow the assessment of the readiness of judokas for a future competition. This new strategy can allow to better manage the capacity of judoka at the training for the sake of an improvement of performance during competitions.

KEY WORDS: Testosterone; Cortisol; T/C ratio; Fight; Workout